U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL HOLDER SPEAKS ON PROTECTING CIVIL RIGHTS

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Attorney General Eric Holder Speaks at the Protecting Civil Rights Symposium Boston ~ Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Thank you, Carmen, for those kind words; for your outstanding leadership as United States Attorney, and as a member of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee; and for all that you and your staff have done to bring us together to discuss – and to address – some of the most critical civil rights issues facing our nation.

It’s a pleasure to be back in Boston – and a privilege to join with so many friends, colleagues, attorneys, advocates, military service members, law enforcement officials, and community leaders in exploring strategies for taking our collective work to a new level.   I’d particularly like to thank Theodore Landsmark – along with my friend, Cheryl Brown Henderson – for lending their voices to this important dialogue.   And I’d like to thank each of our expert panelists and breakout session leaders for sharing their unique perspectives with us today.

This symposium presents a chance to reflect upon the progress that’s been made in recent years to honor our country’s most basic principles – of inclusion, opportunity, equal treatment, and fair representation.   It’s also an important opportunity to consider the work that’s currently underway – here in Boston and across the country – and to seek out innovative strategies for building on the record of achievement that many of you have helped to establish.

I especially am proud of the work that Carmen and her team are leading.   With the creation of the Civil Rights Enforcement Team, this office has strengthened its ability to identify, and respond to, civil rights violations in every corner of this Commonwealth.   Especially over the past three years, you’ve led the way in protecting the citizens we are privileged to serve, and in promoting tolerance and fairness.   And you’ve called on your partners – in both the public and private sectors – to remember that, for all that’s been done throughout our history to expand core rights, freedoms, and opportunities to include people of color, women, LGBT individuals, and so many others – our nation still has more to do, and further to go.   Taking the next steps forward – and carrying this legacy of progress into the future – is up to each and every one of us.

This enduring message was shared – on this very date, nearly half a century ago – by one of this state’s favorite sons, and my most famous predecessor, Robert Kennedy – when he testified before a House of Representatives committee on the urgency of passing the Civil Rights Act of 1963.   In an age defined by sit-ins and marches – as Americans of all races and backgrounds came together, to confront grave dangers and to overturn an unjust status quo – Attorney General Kennedy assured Congressional leaders that, already, much had been done to help secure civil rights for all.   “But,” he said, “much more must be done – both because the American people are clearly demanding it and because, by any moral standard, it is right.”

Although exactly 49 years have passed since the day these words were spoken, they remain as relevant – and as true – as ever.   Here in Boston, and all across our country, it’s impossible to ignore the growing concerns from citizens who feel – often for the first time in their lives – that the hard-won progress of the Civil Rights era has come under renewed threat.   Even in America’s most vibrant cities, too many neighborhoods continue to be afflicted by the same disparities, divisions, and problems that – decades ago – so many struggled, sacrificed, fought, and even died to address.

During my time as a prosecutor, judge, Deputy Attorney General, and now Attorney General, I’ve seen all too clearly that the sacred ideal of “liberty and justice for all” has yet to be fully realized.   And one need only look at the Justice Department’s ongoing – and expanding – civil rights enforcement efforts to see how vital this work continues to be – even today, in 2012.

Over the last three years – under the outstanding leadership of Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez – our Civil Rights Division has been busier than ever.   We’ve led the way in combating bias, intimidation, and violence – filing more criminal civil rights cases than ever before, including record numbers of police misconduct, hate crimes, and human trafficking cases.  We’ve engaged with attorneys, investigators, and federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement partners to promote and ensure the highest standards of integrity and professionalism across our nation’s law enforcement community.    And we’ve established a remarkable record of achievement in ensuring that the rights of all Americans are protected – in our workplaces and military bases; in our housing and lending markets; in our schools and places of worship; in our voting booths and our immigrant communities.

I know that many of you – along with the rest of the nation – have been closely following the case that led to yesterday’s decision, by the Supreme Court, to strike down major provisions of an Arizona law that would have effectively criminalized unlawful status in that state.   While I’m pleased that the Court confirmed the serious constitutional questions we raised about this law, I do remain concerned about the law’s potential impact – and, specifically, about the requirement for law enforcement officials to verify the immigration status of any person lawfully stopped or detained when they have reason to suspect that the person is here unlawfully.   Above all, I want to assure communities – in Arizona and around the country – that the Department of Justice will continue to vigorously enforce federal prohibitions against racial and ethnic discrimination.  We are committed – as President Obama stated yesterday – to “uphold[ing] our tradition as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants.”   And we’ll continue to take every possibly step – and utilize every available resource – to prevent and combat any and all forms of discrimination.

One area where we’ve already proven this is in our efforts to ensure fairness in our housing and lending markets.  By developing groundbreaking initiatives – and dedicating new resources – we’re combating predatory and discriminatory practices like never before.   We’re working to promote fair lending and treatment for all borrowers, and have established important protections for communities of color, military service members and veterans, and other vulnerable populations that – too often – have been targeted and victimized.   In fact, just last year, the Civil Rights Division’s Fair Lending Unit settled or filed a record number of cases – including the largest fair lending settlement in history, totaling more than $330 million – to hold financial institutions accountable for discriminating against African and Hispanic Americans.

Beyond these efforts, the Department has taken decisive action to prevent and combat hate crimes, utilizing a range of new tools and authorities to investigate and prosecute them.   Last year alone, we obtained more convictions for defendants charged with hate crimes than any other year in more than a decade.   Over the past three fiscal years, we prosecuted 35 percent more hate crime cases than during the preceding three-year period.   And thanks to new protections included in the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act – which President Obama signed into law in 2009 – we’ve strengthened our ability to achieve justice on behalf of all those who are victimized simply because of who they are – including those who are targeted because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

In conjunction with these efforts, the Department also has enhanced our collaboration with a wide range of allies – including federal agencies like the Department of Education – to coordinate significant, Administration-wide initiatives to combat bullying.   By forging partnerships with educators, school administrators, community leaders, faith-based organizations, researchers, and law enforcement officials, we are exploring new ways to reach out to students who feel unsafe or have been victimized.   And we are working to engage entire communities in promoting healthy environments for all of our nation’s young people.

At the same time, we’re dedicated to working harder than ever to combat the despicable practice of human trafficking.   As a result of the anti-trafficking training programs that the Justice Department has helped to create – and thanks to our reinvigorated partnerships with state, local, and international authorities – we’ve seen record numbers of human trafficking cases over the last three years, including a rise of more than 30 percent in the number of forced labor and adult sex trafficking prosecutions.   These successes have sent a strong message, and a clear warning – that those who commit these offenses will be stopped; they will be held accountable; and they will be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

In this work, and in all of our daily efforts, the men and women serving in our Civil Rights Division – and in our U.S. Attorneys’ Offices nationwide – are driven by three guiding principles in their enforcement efforts: the need to expand opportunity and access for every citizen; to ensure the effective infrastructure of our democracy; and to safeguard the most vulnerable among us from violence, exploitation, and discrimination.   I am proud of all that the Department has done to honor and extend the legacy of achievement that our predecessors have established.   Nowhere is this more clear than in our work to safeguard the single most fundamental, and most powerful, right of American citizenship: the right to vote .

Over the last 18 months, we’ve seen an alarming rise in voting-related measures at the state level, some of which could make it extremely difficult for many eligible voters to cast ballots this year.   In response, the Justice Department has initiated careful, thorough, and independent reviews of a number of these proposed changes – examining redistricting plans in certain jurisdictions, as well as early voting procedures, photo identification requirements, and changes affecting third party registration organizations – in order to guard against disenfranchisement and to ensure compliance with critical laws like the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

In addition to our enforcement of this important measure , we’re also working hand-in-hand with several jurisdictions – through outreach and education – to ensure consistent compliance with its provisions.   We’re vigorously defending its constitutionality in court.   And we’re fighting to protect the voting rights of Americans living abroad, citizens with disabilities, language minorities, and U.S. service members and veterans.   During the 2010 election cycle, the Civil Rights Division obtained court orders, court-approved consent decrees, or out-of-court agreements in 14 jurisdictions, which ensured that thousands of military and overseas voters had the opportunity to vote and to have that vote counted.  And in just the past four months, we've filed three different lawsuits – in Alabama, Wisconsin, and California – to protect the voting rights of service members and overseas citizens.

As we build on these vital efforts – and all of the Civil Rights Division’s essential work – I believe it’s clear – despite the fiscal constraints and nearly unprecedented budgetary challenges we face – that the Justice Department’s commitment to protecting the rights and freedoms of every citizen has never been stronger.   For me – both personally and professionally – our record of achievement is a source of great pride.   But I also recognize that, for all that we’ve accomplished, we cannot yet be satisfied.

Of course, all of you are here today because you already know what we’re up against – and you understand what’s at stake.    So, as you move through this program, I ask that you remember Robert Kennedy’s enduring words, and bear in mind that – although no one can doubt that we’ve come a long way together – the struggle for civil rights is far from over.   Our nation’s journey is not yet complete.   And the responsibility to carry these efforts into the future now rests with each of us.

Thank you, once again, for your ongoing commitment to this work.   I look forward to where you must – and will – help to lead this great nation from here.

ATTORNEY GENERAL HOLDER AT DETROIT NAACP CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE 
Attorney General Eric Holder Speaks at the Detroit NAACP Centennial Celebration 57th Annual Fight for Freedom DinnerDetroit ~ Sunday, May 6, 2012
Thank you, Reverend Anthony, for those kind words – and thank you all for the opportunity to take part in this momentous celebration.   It’s a pleasure to join Mayor Bing, along with Detroit’s hardworking Congressional delegation – Senator Levin, Senator Stabenow, Congressman Conyers, and Congressman Clarke – in marking the centennial of the largest – and one of the most accomplished – NAACP branches in the country.

I’d like to thank this branch’s leadership and membership – as well as tonight’s General Chairs and Co-Chairs – for all they’ve done to bring us together tonight.   And I’d particularly like to congratulate this year’s award recipients – Rhonda Walker, Nabih Ayad, Rachel Maddow, Maureen Taylor, and Reverend Dr. Julius Hope – on this prestigious, and well-deserved, recognition.

It’s a privilege to be back in the Motor City – and to bring greetings from President Obama.   This is an historic evening – an occasion to take pride in the legacy of achievement that has come to define and distinguish the work of the NAACP and, in particular, of its Detroit Branch.   But it’s also an important opportunity to take stock of what’s left to do – and to consider the challenges that lie before us.   So, as we come together to celebrate the power of individual voices, and the collective action – and nationwide progress – that a single person can help to inspire – let us also reflect on the responsibilities that each one of us shares – responsibilities to ourselves and each other, to our children, and to our predecessors – whose examples of courage – and commitment to collaboration – continue to show us the way forward.

Just over a century ago – at a time when segregation was the law of the land, and too many communities across our nation were gripped by fear and shattered by violence – a group of visionaries came together – driven by concern and frustration – to put forward a dream of hope for their own communities – and for all of their fellow citizens.

Since then, the NAACP has stood on the front lines of our nation’s fight to ensure security, opportunity, and justice – and equal treatment.   In a direct sense, this organization enabled many of the sweeping, transformative changes that shifted the course of the twentieth century – and paved the way for remarkable, once-unimaginable progress.   And since 1912 – when the Detroit Branch received its charter – there’s no question that this community has been at the center of these historic efforts.

When housing discrimination rocked the state of Michigan, it was the NAACP that stepped up and provided the funding to take this struggle to the court system – winning a major legal victory in 1925.

When the indignities of the unjust “separate but equal” doctrine could be tolerated no longer, it was the NAACP that shepherded a legal challenge all the way to the Supreme Court – and in 1954 helped secure the landmark Brown ruling.   That same year, the Detroit Branch obtained a decision in federal court that ended segregation in this city’s public housing system.

When pioneers like W.E.B. DuBois, Walter White, James Weldon Johnson, Rosa Parks, Medgar Evers – and a young Montgomery preacher named Martin Luther King, Jr. – raised their voices, and even risked their lives, in pursuit of a more perfect union, each of them found a position of leadership – and a community of committed partners – in the NAACP.

And when a bright young woman named Vivian Malone – who would later become my sister-in-law – set her sights on a quality college education, but was barred from enrolling in her state’s university because of her race, she came to the NAACP for advice as she mounted a legal challenge.   And in 1963 – with the support of the courts; with the help of my predecessor, Attorney General Robert Kennedy; and with the eyes of the nation upon her – she stepped past Governor George Wallace to integrate the University of Alabama.

Long before I married her sister, Vivian became that University’s first African-American graduate.   For the rest of her life, she fought for equal opportunity as a member of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, and as an activist with the National Council of Negro Women and the NAACP.   Although she passed away several years ago – much too soon – her courage has inspired me since I was a young man, seeing the iconic news images of that infamous “Stand in the Schoolhouse Door” for the very first time.   And her example continues to guide me even today.

In fact, stories like Vivian’s – and landmark achievements like the ones this Branch has helped to bring about – were what drove me, as an aspiring attorney, to spend my first summer in law school working for the NAACP’s Legal Defense and Educational Fund – where I had the chance to be part of a tradition of service that was established by legendary attorneys like Charles Hamilton Houston and Thurgood Marshall, and later strengthened by brilliant, dedicated leaders like my good friend John Payton.   Not long after, I launched my career in public service at the Department of Justice.

Today, I am humbled to be a direct beneficiary of the progress that the NAACP has made possible over the years.   And I’m honored to serve in the Administration of President Barack Obama, another direct beneficiary of this work.

Yet, despite the significant, once-unimaginable advances that have marked the century since this group convened its first meetings – not far from where we gather tonight, at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church – the unfortunate fact is that, in 2012, our nation’s long struggle to overcome injustice, to eliminate disparities, to bridge long-standing divisions, and to eradicate violence has not yet ended.

On the contrary – this work remains as important – and as urgent – as ever before.

Of course, you already know this.   You know that, in far too many American cities, there are neighborhoods where too many kids go to prison and too few go to college; where the doors to education and opportunity seem to be firmly closed; and where, for many young people, funerals are more common than weddings.   There are school districts where suspensions are disproportionately likely to be imposed on black students, Hispanic students, poor students, and students with special needs – increasing the chances that they’ll be involved with the juvenile justice system.

Fortunately, on each of these fronts, the Detroit NAACP has responded not with despair, but with resolve.   You are carrying on – and continuing to strengthen – the tradition of advocacy and empowerment that has become your hallmark.   You’re calling forth – and bringing out – the very best in this city’s residents.   You’re fighting to safeguard civil rights, to ensure embattled voting rights, and to expand learning and employment opportunities in every community.   And you’re working – on the streets as well as in the courts – to strengthen our criminal justice system, to achieve fairness in our immigration and sentencing policies, and to prevent and combat violence and crime – especially among our young people.

This is an issue that has – rightly – garnered significant national attention in recent months – as our nation has struggled to make sense of the tragic shooting death of a Florida teenager named Trayvon Martin.   As this case moves through the legal system, Justice Department officials will continue to communicate closely with state and local authorities to ensure that community concerns are heard, tensions are alleviated, and – as with every investigation at every level – appropriate actions are guided by the facts and the law.

But – as we all know – the reality is that certain aspects of this case are far from unique.   And incidents of violence involving young people are anything but rare.

Nationwide, homicide is the leading cause of death for black men between the ages of 15 and 24.  More than 60 percent of all young people are exposed to violence at some point in their lives, either as victims or as witnesses.   And one report even showed that – here in Detroit – an average of two young black men are killed every week – a murder rate nearly seven times higher than the population at large.

I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that this is shocking.   It is unacceptable.   And it’s why the leadership of organizations like the NAACP – and the engagement of activists throughout Detroit and across the country – remains as vital as ever.

It’s also why, under the Obama Administration, the Justice Department has made an unprecedented commitment to protecting the safety – and potential – of our children.   For the first time in history, we are directing significant resources for the express purpose of addressing childhood exposure to violence, raising awareness of its ramifications, and advancing scientific inquiry on its causes and characteristics.   Through our landmark Defending Childhood Initiative, which I launched in 2010 – and our National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention, which is implementing an action plan right here in Detroit – we’re developing strategies for reducing violence and countering its negative impact.   And in six cities – including this one – an innovative pilot initiative known as “Strong Cities, Strong Communities” is allowing local leaders to leverage federal, state, local, business, and non-profit partnerships in order to enhance cooperation on a host of community-based efforts – including violence prevention.

I believe there’s good reason for optimism about where this work will lead us – and the progress that this type of collaboration has made possible.   And I’m pleased to report that a similar spirit of partnership – and a robust, Department-wide commitment to protecting the most vulnerable among us, confronting longstanding divisions, and overcoming persistent disparities – has infused the Administration’s endeavors on a range of critical areas.

Nowhere is this more clear than in the determined efforts of our Civil Rights Division.   As Attorney General, I have the great privilege – and the solemn duty – of enforcing many of the laws and reforms that the NAACP and other groups have fought, over the past century, to enact.  For the Department and our allies across the country, this work is among our highest priorities.  And I’m proud to say that our approach has never been more effective.

Over the past three years, the Department’s Civil Rights Division has filed more criminal civil rights cases than ever before, including record numbers of police misconduct, hate crimes, and human trafficking cases.   We’ve moved aggressively to combat continuing racial segregation in schools – and to eliminate discriminatory practices in our housing and lending markets.   We’ve taken decisive action to vigorously enforce the 1965 Voting Rights Act – our nation’s most important civil rights statute – by challenging attempts to disenfranchise many of our fellow citizens.    And we’ve reinvigorated sweeping efforts to ensure that, in our workplaces and military bases; in our housing and lending markets; in our schools and places of worship; in our immigrant communities and our voting booths – the rights of all Americans are protected.

Across the Administration, we’re working in a range of other innovative ways to achieve fairness and expand opportunity – from successfully advocating for the reduction of the unfair and unjust 100-to-1 sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine offenses – to launching a new, Department-wide Diversity Management Initiative.   And our determination to build on these efforts has, quite simply, never been stronger.

Of course, I cannot pretend that the road ahead will be an easy one.   And I recognize – and have seen firsthand – that doing what’s right may not always be the same as doing what’s popular.

But I firmly believe that each of us has the power – and the responsibility – to take up the unfinished struggle for equal opportunity and justice.   To rise to this moment of possibility – and seize our chance to protect and empower those who need our help most.

After all – if, as they say, what’s past is prologue – tonight’s celebration of your first 100 years should inspire a great deal of confidence about where the NAACP’s Detroit Branch will lead us over the next 100.

And, as we look toward the future we seek – and, together, must build – know that my colleagues and I at every level of the Justice Department are privileged to count you as partners.   Know that I am hopeful about all that we can – and will – achieve together.   And finally, know that I am honored to stand with you – tonight and always – in living out the spirit that inspired the creation of the NAACP – and that must always drive our pursuit of a more inclusive, more just, and more perfect union.  The creation of that better America is within our grasp.   If we commit ourselves, if we work together, if we remember the sacrifices of those who envisioned a better world – not for them, but for us – there is nothing we cannot accomplish.   So let us leave tonight secure in the knowledge that our destiny – our nation's destiny – will be determined primarily by the resolve and the vigor that we bring to this endeavor.   I look forward to working with all of you.

Thank you.